Skip to main content

Dare to dip

You will need to make this BIGGER.

I seem to keep dipping a lot of birds lately. The Happisburgh Greenish, The Cromer Greenish and Bonelli's......don't get me started regarding the Caspian Tern at Titchwell. Its not like I twitch regularly, you would have thought the birds could behave on the odd occasion I do travel. Credit though to those hardened souls at Cromer; standing in one place for a lengthy period is not my strong point.
Cantley Beet Factory has been brimming with quality the last couple of days, and after my telescope temporarily lost a leg yesterday (putting a stop to some proper scanning of the exposed mudflats) I returned today for a proper count up, scope rehabilitated.

Little Stint 1 Juv (see photo; you do well to spot him observer!)
Curlew Sandpiper 3 Juvs
Common Snipe c15
Green Sandpiper 9
Common Sandpiper 4
Dunlin 12
Greenshank 13
Ruff c14
Knot 1
Redshank 2
Ringed Plover 10+
Lapwing 250+
Yellow Wagtail 2

Yesterday, I had my first Wheatear of the Autumn, plus a female Marsh Harrier.
Cracking range of Waders to be had, and a real pleasure to come across the Little Stint, so smart in immature plumage. Initially I found a single Curlew Sand with the Dunlin flock, and it was a classic 'last scan before I leave' moment during which I latched onto the 3 birds together. As a chap said to me on site, "Keep still, and the birds will come to you". Sound advice!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Everything is about edge

Hardley, where it is often confusing to define where the garden ends and the marsh begins. Tumble-down houses and rickety shacks, away from any bus route and Team Sky sorts wrapped in lycra, this is a village that by choice is cut off. The secret is out, and pre-storm Ciara as many as 10 large lenses littered the river bank firing at will. Their target- Winter ghosts. First, the classic Scooby-Doo type, as a Barn Owl responds to an ill-advised squeak in the grass and heads towards the onlookers. Another quickly joins the hunt, their formation a picture of double-edged stealth. But these year-round residents are not the key objective today, that honour is given to the Short-eared Owl. 3/4 of these can be seen from the staithe at the minute, floating like giant moths over the tussocks and edges.  In a recent article in The New Yorker, Jake Fiennes states "Everything is about edge". Hedges, ditches, scrub, forgotten tracts of land that link nothing and no-one. Fiennes, now ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Finally, just in time for the tail end of Spring migration........

.......we get some good weather. Too little too late? Only time will tell. I have enjoyed watching the resident birds go about their business on the local marshes and broads, but that ranks as the poorest Spring I can recall in terms of migrants and variety. That is not to say the birding is not good- but just a little underwhelming. Over at Rockland Broad on Saturday, I enjoyed a bit of a raptor fest, with 3 Hoby, 2 Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Marsh Harrier and Kestrel all seen well. 2 Garden Warbler were singing, one by the carpark and one by the broad. A couple of Common Tern were hawking over the broad, and a Kingfisher was up to the usual near the hide. Don't get me wrong, this is all great (and in the warm too) but I was hoping for something a little different at Rockland this Spring. Still, with the decent weather set to continue for the next week, eyes to the skies. And indeed, to the ground, for my first Wall Browns of the year were flying and I happened upon my first 4-spotted ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Grey Phalarope- a new patch bird

The 7th of April was another bitterly cold Spring day, hats and gloves in prime position on pegs and in bags ready to be deployed. A few brave Garganey have been reported north of the river, but it was a bird from the north itself that had me rushing for the thermals and the telescope late in the day.  I was thankful for the local Whatsapp group who were quick to report that a Grey Phalarope had been seen on Rockland Broad. This tiny Wader would have come in on the northerlies over the last few days, although to grace one of the broads is a real surprise, since most stick pretty close to the coast before moving on. Indeed, my experience of the birds has usually been on a sea watch in the Autumn, waves crashing and foam flying, my eyes straining to pick them out as they fly low just above the surf. They are fantastic birds, and now one was here on the patch. I had a brief panic when I realised my scope was in my car at the garage (thankfully I do have a much older spare) but once th...
Post a Comment
Read more